The Legal 500

Faced with falling deal volumes, particularly on AIM, Beachcroft LLP concentrated on sector specialismsin 2008, including financial institutions, health and technology. National head Laurence Markham is recommended.

With a national reputation and a strong corporate client base, Bristol-based Burges Salmon LLP is a recommended choice for public and private M&A. It completed 71 deals totalling £800m in 2008, including for WPP and Mitie. Clients cite the ‘excellent’ Roger Hawes as ‘a partner we can work with’.

Charles Russell LLP had nothing to rival 2007’s standout transaction for US corporate Yamana Gold (on the UK aspects of its offer for Meridian Gold), but it nevertheless succeeded in matching that year’s record deal haul. In total it completed an impressive 82 deals totalling £1.4bn, and it is frequently cited as a firm to emulate by smaller practices in this table. Simon Gilbert heads a ‘friendly’ team that has expanded with the arrival of Edward Hoare from Faegre & Benson LLP.

Farrer & Co’s Richard Lane is ‘quick and responsive 24 hours a day’. The team has a strong following among high-net-worth individuals, and completed 51 deals last year mainly in the sub-£40m category. It is ‘solution driven and avoids unnecessary legal arguments’. Adam Walker also enjoys a strong reputation.

The SME sector remains a natural market for Charles Wander’s burgeoning team at Fladgate LLP, which expanded to 12 partners in 2008. The hotel sector and international work are other key areas of focus.

Media deals in the sub-£50m bracket remain a theme for Harbottle & Lewis LLP, where a triumvirate of partners - Colin Howes, Tim Parker, and Mark Phillips- succeeded in breaking firm deal records in 2008. Target Entertainment and MAMA group were particularly active clients in 2008.

Matthew Martin is the new head of Manches LLP’s six-partner corporate group, having taken over from Chris Owen(who remains at the firm). Winning a first corporate instruction for WH Smith, on two sub-£50m deals, was a highlight of 2008.

A growing M&A team at Marriott Harrison saw a couple of deals in the high end of the sub-£50m range, and many under £20m. The firm now has eight partners with M&A expertise, and venture capital work is a big theme. Highlights included practice head Jon Sweet’s advice to Thurloe Hotels on the purchase of the assets of Pelham Hotel, involving some complex issues on the finance side.

Shepherd and Wedderburn has five full-time London corporate partners, supplemented by numerous others in Scotland. The firm has an enviable corporate client base including Stagecoach, Scottish & Newcastle, and Veolia, and also has strong energy sector credentials. These factors have often led to it winning secondary roles on a number of the UK’s largest M&A transactions, such as advising the Nuclear Liabilities Fund on EDF’s £12.5bn takeover of British Energy. Walter Blake is the contact.

Financial services M&A is a specialism of the seven-partner Speechly Bircham LLP team, although, in common with most, deal values and volumes fell in 2008. Private equity partner Andrew Clarke had one of the most interesting roles of the year, acting for MFI on its rescue MBO and subsequent administration. Tom Shaw also wins praise.

Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP continues to focus on the social enterprise and corporate sectors, especially owner-managed businesses. Peter Bohm and Vanessa Williams are the key partners; both are regarded as ‘excellent’.

Though fewer than the year before, acting on 22 deals at an average of £13m each nevertheless represented a satisfactory haul for Bircham Dyson Bell LLP’s five-partner team, headed by John Turnbull. Bruce Jones is also recommended.

Boodle Hatfield’s team is ‘a small but efficient machine that responds well to pressure’; practice head Nigel Stone is ‘determined but reasonable’ and ‘ably supported’ by Victoria Symons. Deals involving family businesses are a strength.

Acting for the pharmaceutical investment arm of Nomura on a US$40m spin-out from AstraZeneca is indicative of Bristows’ strength in the pharmaceuticals and technology sector. An impressive range of blue-chip clients will typically instruct Mark Hawes’ team on sub-£20m deals.

The six-partner team at Collyer Bristow LLP advised on a number of deals up to £10m in 2008, and one over £50m. Paul Sillis is the contact.

Though the firm is best known for its media work, that is only one aspect of Davenport Lyons’ eight-partner corporate practice. 2008 saw the firm complete 65 deals (20 more than in 2007), typically in the £10m-plus bracket, and setting up and acting for distressed funds was a key theme of the latter half of the year. Michael Hatchwell is practice head, and was recently joined by Jonathan Metliss from SJ Berwin LLP.

The four-partner Davies Arnold Cooper LLP team completed around 15 deals in 2008, largely in the sub-£10m bracket, though one was £40m. The property sector is a key focus. Practice head David Manifould was especially active.

Insurance sector M&A is a core focus for Richard Spiller’s three-partner team at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge UK LLP.

Finers Stephens Innocent LLP completed around 20 deals with values up to £30m in 2008. Sara Wax’s advice to NASDAQ-listed Global Traffic Group on its long-running £14.5m acquisition of a radio business was a high-profile highlight.

Forsters LLP completed 28 deals in 2008, predominantly in the £1m-£12m range and often for cash-rich entrepreneurs. It also acts for PCP Capital Partners, which arranged the £200m sale of Manchester City FC to Abu Dhabi United. Jeremy Whiteson heads the group.

Fox Williams LLP’s ten-partner team completed 48 M&A deals in 2008, with a total consideration of £370m. The e-business and technology sector is a leading strength, although 2008 was characterised by an increasing level of work from quoted (particularly AIM-listed) companies.

M&A is central to what Halliwells does best, and the firm regularly works on as many deals as any other firm in this table, completing 37 UK deals (at an average of £14m) in 2008. Catherine Moss had a great year, acting on three transactions over £50m.

Hill Dickinson LLP joins the ranking following its merger with Middleton Potts, which had a notable international M&A practice in line with its highly regarded international trade and shipping expertise. David Godfrey acted on the London end of an Italian bank merger in 2008.

Media and leisure are growing areas of expertise for Howard Kennedy, and international deals are also on the rise. Advising longstanding client Wellness Foods on its acquisition of Dorset Cereals was a highlight.

Shipping, energy and aviation are core sectors for Ince & Co’s five-partner team. Nick Gould and Stephen Jarvis are key contacts.

Irwin Mitchell LLP’s team has grown significantly in the last year with leading corporate partner Edward Persse joined by a new practice head Andrew Woolf from Howard Kennedy and David Beech, who joins from an in-house private equity role. The majority of deals are in the £5m to £30m range, though two were over £250m.

Kemp Little LLP’s four-partner M&A practice, headed by Lucy Vernall, stands out for the quality of its blue-chip technology client base, which includes Thomson Reuters and Expedia. The team focuses on three core areas: large technology-sector corporates, AIM-listed technology companies, and private equity providers operating in the technology sector.

There is an increasingly international flavour to Laytons’ ‘good-value’ M&A practice. Acting for Vatukoula Gold Mines on the £29.5m acquisition of 80% of the shares in a Fijian mine was a leading highlight. Justin Crewe is ‘patient and human’; Cameron Sunter is ‘pragmatic’, with ‘good deal management skills’; and senior partner Richard Kennett is ‘fabulous under pressure’.

Maclay Murray & Spens LLP is widely noted for the high calibre of its work; it ‘takes the time to really get to know our business’, say clients, who also recommend Jonathan Brooks for the ‘calm he exudes during negotiations’. The firm completed one £250m acquisition in 2008, along with numerous others in the sub-£50m bracket.

Patrick Martin is the sole full-time M&A partner at McGrigors LLP’s London office. Financial institutions and energy sector clients comprise a large segment of the client base.

McGuireWoods London LLP, formerly Grundberg Mocatta Rakison in London, is an internationally orientated firm, with Russia, Scandinavia, the CIS and the US among its areas of focus. Many of its lawyers are dual qualified. Richard Beresford and Robert Rakison are recommended.

Most of Memery Crystal LLP’s 2008 deals were in the sub-£50m bracket. Acting for entrepreneurial and AIM-listed clients is an area of focus, while winning a first instruction from PepsiCo on a UK acquisition was a notable highlight. Lesley Gregory, who led this deal, is commended by peers.

Pritchard Englefield’s eight-corporate partner team includes two German/UK-qualified partners and a US/UK-qualified partner. David Glass heads the group, and Bryan Bletso stands out for his technology-sector M&A prowess.

Lindsey Hemingway is the main contact for M&A at Rooks Rider, which has a niche specialism advising trustee sellers, in addition to a focus on entrepreneurial clients.

‘Able to grasp all the factors in a deal’, Rosenblatt Solicitors’ team is also noted for its ‘personal touch’. AIM is a focus, though the firm also boasts a growing number of FTSE 250 clients. Name partner Ian Rosenblatt is recommended, as are Jon Lovitt and Wayne O’Neil, the latter for his ‘constant attention’.

Rex Newman and David Judah were the most active partners in Wallace LLP’s M&A team in 2008, which worked on over 20 deals. Enic is a prominent client.

Entrepreneurs are a target for Withers LLP’s corporate team, which has been bolstered by the arrival of Adam Duthie from an in-house role. Acting for mining company KazakhGold as the target of a US$500m partial offer was the standout transaction among the 20 deals that the firm worked on in 2008, totalling US$1bn.

New entrant Beale and Company Solicitors LLP ‘understands sectors and delivers advice appropriate to them’, and is recommended for sub-£15m deals. Practice head Michael Archer and associate James Hutchinson are recommended.

Bryan Cave is also new to the ranking. It acted on approximately 20 M&A deals in 2008, totalling £1bn and ranging from £1m to £500m in size. Anthony Fiducia is the contact.

New entrant Dawsons LLP acted on 24 M&A deals, averaging around £20m. Around two-thirds of its work has an international aspect, often for German-speaking clients. Ute Mueller heads a four-partner team.

Clients are fiercely loyal to new entrant Edwin Coe LLP’s four-partner corporate team, which is ‘extraordinarily competent’ and ‘a model of professionalism’. Most of its deals are in the sub-£30m bracket. The team includes Russel Shear and David Kinch.

Natural resources is one area of focus for newly ranked Anglo-Canadian firm Fasken Martineau LLP. Clients confirm that the 12-partner team ‘knows what it is talking about’, with practice head June Paddock particularly recommended.

Penningtons Solicitors LLP’s bread and butter is private M&A in the £1m-£50m bracket. The three-partner London team completed 14 deals in 2008, with healthcare among its areas of expertise.

Corporate work is at the heart of new entrant PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal LLP’s business. A 30-fee-earner team is largely focused on the owner-managed business sector but draws on an international network that spans 63 jurisdictions. Stuart Hatcher heads the team.

Winston & Strawn London joins the ranking partly on the strength of client feedback, especially for partner Zoe Ashcroft whose ‘charm and fine sense of humour help to defuse situations when things get heated’. Ashcroft is especially noted for an Africa-facing practice.